The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Fernando Miranda, has chaired the sectoral table of olive oil and table olives, and has stressed the need for a self-regulation mechanism that corrects the imbalances of supply and demand that they occur more and more frequently for climatic reasons.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Secretary General has commented on the concern with which the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, is following the effects of the High Level Isolated Depression (DANA) on the agricultural sector in general. He has asked the olive sector that if they have data in relation to this sector, they should transfer it to the Ministry.
During the meeting, the evolution of the market has been analyzed and the latest work carried out by the Ministry for the implementation of the self-regulation mechanism proposed to the European Commission for Agri-food Cooperatives has been informed, within the framework of Article 209 of Regulation of the Common Organization of Markets of the agricultural sectors.
In relation to market developments, a balance has been made on July 31 and, with data still provisional, on August 31.
The situation is marked by the stability of the prices and a lower volume of commercialization in August due to the summer stop, after a maximum of commercialization reached last July. For September, the last month of the 2018/19 campaign, a higher rate of departures in the foreign market is expected.
Record olive oil harvest in the 2018/2019 campaign
The record harvest in the 2018/2019 campaign, which ends on September 30, reached 1,787 million tons (50% above the average of the last 4 campaigns). Exports at July 31 reached historical figures, with 840,000 tons (13% more than the average of the last campaigns), while stocks at the end of August (provisional data) were also high, with 886,900 tons.This level of final stocks will cover the link needs of the new campaign at the national level and in the world markets.
The sector representatives have agreed on production prospects for the next campaign significantly lower than those registered in the current one, as a result of the precipitation deficit of the last months.At the meeting, the Secretary General has informed of the work undertaken by the Ministry for the implementation of the mechanism of self-regulation of the oil proposed by Cooperatives Agro-food before the European Commission to allow, voluntarily, store olive oil from a certain quality during the necessary time until the equilibrium conditions between supply and demand are restored.
The European Commission, for issuing its opinion, has required additional data. In this regard, precisely yesterday a questionnaire was received from the Commission services detailing the additional information it needs. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is providing Agro-food Cooperatives with all the technical support necessary to complete the information as quickly as possible and guarantees.
Once the Commission receives the complete dossier, the procedure for issuing its opinion on the compatibility of the proposal of the self-regulation mechanism with the objectives of Article 39 of the Treaty on European Union, regarding the specific objectives of the Policy will be initiated Common Agrarian (PAC).
Fernando Miranda has insisted on the importance of working “jointly and intensely with the sector” for the implementation of this mechanism.
He pointed out that climatic phenomena will occur with increasing frequency that will generate imbalances between supply and demand. As a consequence, there will be campaigns with surpluses and falling prices to farmers, with others in which there will be an insufficient supply of product, which will raise the price for consumers.
On the other hand, the Secretary General has specified that in addition to these works related to the self-regulation mechanism, Spain has raised to the European Union the necessary increase in the triggering prices of Community aid for oil storage, as well as the establishment of a production regulation system based on quality factors analogous to that existing for wine in the current Common Market Organization (Article 167).
In addition, the situation of the table olive market has been analyzed, with a production in the 2018/2019 campaign 4.1% higher than the previous campaign, up to 587,800 tons. The behavior of exports affected by the tariff increase decided by the United States Administration on black olives and which, at the moment, is object to a procedure (panel) initiated by the European Union before the Common Trade Organization (WTO).
This situation has been offset by the table olive sector as a whole with the diversification of products and markets. Exports of table olives in this campaign have increased by 10.8% compared to last season, reaching 340,070 tons, as of July 31.
